Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he can win a championship with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. Credit: Autostock

Q&A: Earnhardt Jr.

Q: You've won the Daytona 500 before; what's the outlook to win it again this year?

Earnhardt: We're pretty excited already. Really, just the first few hours we've been here have been real productive, and so I'm pretty excited. We've got a great track record here, and it's a great racetrack for me. I really enjoy running here, and I feel like if you've got a good car, you've got a great shot at winning.

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Q: Do you think they have gone far enough in fire safety and safety overall in the Car of Tomorrow?

Earnhardt: Yeah, I really think the car is very safe, safer than what we drive now and what we drive now is really nice. As a driver, I feel very comfortable. I'm real happy with the way my car is now.

The Car of Tomorrow gives you a larger window opening, and the larger cockpit as well, so you'll have plenty of room, plenty of ability to get in and out of the car. As long as we're burning, you know, gasoline in the tank, you're going to have the threat of fire. I think that all of the increase in thickness and stuff in the fuel cell area and stuff like that is going to be a big help.

I think the cars are very safe and I'm real proud of what I've seen over the last several years. I really had no concern before, but NASCAR showed us a lot of things and opened the driver's eyes to a lot of different issues and stuff that we could be doing better. It's been a great gain in the last couple years.

Q: You're heading into this season with some stability with Tony Eury again, basically the same team. Talk about your frame of mind going into 2007 as opposed to the two previous seasons.

Earnhardt: I was real worried going into both those seasons, '05 and '06. I was wondering how we were going to run. I know nothing about the cars. I knew nothing much about the team as far as their experience and talent and the crew chief was the big question mark; I was a big question mark, everything about it.

I think going into last year, I was worried whether me and Tony Jr. could be successful again as we were in '05. I was worried whether we could match the pressure of trying to make the Chase, we didn't have any excuses. All of these things were going through my mind last year.

I feel like we're very capable of winning the championship. I feel like I know more each year in and out about what to do to win the championship and how to better position myself to make the Chase and do those type of things. Each year you learn more about that. I have to minimize my mistakes. It's really hard as a human being to do that, but you've just got to really, really try, just to be perfect as a driver, not to make mistakes on the racetrack.

Q: At what point does [your contract status] become a distraction from the goal which is winning a championship?

Earnhardt: I don't really have a percentage for you. You know I like driving the red Bud car with the No. 8 on it, and to drive that car ... basically I don't really know what to tell you other than that.

We're working to get through the contract and finish up a new deal. Whereas individuals, as a team, me and my sister are pursuing that, you know, the right way. We are doing, we are asking and trying to get ... things, like the way we feel they need to be. We've hit a few roadblocks and whatnot with things that they are willing to do and not willing to do.

It's just tough. To get a new deal done it's going to be very difficult but I feel like we can get it done. There's just some things involved that I want out of the future involving the company, and it's very difficult for everybody to see eye to eye there.

I want to be very involved in the company, but you know, I've got to do what I've got to do, and I want to win championships. Aside from that, I have no interest from ownership.

That's not in my chemistry to be that type of guy to run a three-car team in the Cup series. I don't think I want to put up with that.

Just give me a good racecar and make it run fast and give me guys I can enjoy working with, and I'll go to the racetrack and I'll do whatever you need me to do with the sponsors and everything else. Just don't make everything a hassle and don't make everything a pain and you'll have my dedication and everything else you need as far as a driver goes.

Q: Is there one thing that's really foremost on your mind right now that is bothering you that you would kind of like to get the answer to?

Earnhardt: Well, I think the thing that's bothering me the most is probably the contract. I think, you know, you guys -- there's really nothing being hidden or pushed under the rug here. I don't have the answers no more than I can give them to y'all. That's probably bothering me the most.

Me and my sister, we learned over the last couple of years, the last couple of contracts that we have to do a better job on our end to make a contract as favorable as possible. That had nothing to do with money. It just has a lot to do with the future. Money's fine. I don't need any more money. I make good money.

It's just about trying to make life as simple as you can make it and trying to make everything as successful as you can make it. I don't want to come here if I can't compete well and run well and I just get by. I want the best, I want the best cars, I want the best people. As individuals, me, Richie, everybody at the company, we want that and we see other companies doing it and you see other teams doing what it takes and making the right moves, and I just want it to be -- I want to be in the same situation as I see other drivers in. I know I'm a good enough racecar driver and I deserve it. We're just trying to, you know, get it all settled and make it right.

Q: Can you give us your reaction to Teresa's comments about TV personality or racecar driver?

Earnhardt: Well, my sister said that in this sport they go hand-in-hand, and I sort of agree with that. I think that everybody is smart enough to understand the position the drivers are in. I think that it's probably an advantage to have a decent personality as a racecar driver, one that can garner to several sponsors that you might have on any given race team. I think is important to be well-liked and be marketable. I think it's any owner's dream to have a driver that's succeeded. I don't know, she might have just been having a bad day or something when she said that. I really don't know where that was coming from.

I tried, and tried not to comment on it. I didn't want to comment to the press on it. Even if I don't and she don't want to be in a pitching war back and forth, you guys can make one out of it if you want. I was trying not to get involved in it. I really didn't appreciate it, whether she was taken out of context or not. I just didn't really appreciate it. But a lot of people went to bat for me, especially a lot of people in the press. It was nice to read those comments and stuff as far as what everybody's opinion on it was.

Q: Have you talked with Teresa about her comments directly, and what's your relationship factor in your decision to stay in DEI?

Earnhardt: Any relationship -- my relationship with the car owner is definitely going to factor into my decision to drive. I haven't talked to Teresa about what she said in the paper. I figured if anything needed to be said, she'd call me up and say it. But you know, my and her relationship definitely factor into my decision to drive there.

Q: There's a perception out there that this relationship between you two is not good. Can you just clarify for us what the relationship is?

Earnhardt: Well, I don't want to really get too personal, but Teresa is my stepmother, and I have a mother at home that I have a very good relationship with. Mine and Teresa's relationship has always been very black and white, very strict and in your face.

The relationship that we have today is the same relationship we had when I was 6 years old when I moved into that house with Dad and her. It's always been the same. It hasn't gotten worse over the last couple years or last couple months. It's always been the same, the way I felt about her then is the way I feel about her now.

Q: Have you thought about how long you want to drive and what else you might want to do in life besides race cars?

Earnhardt: I would like to drive as long as I can; I really enjoy it. When I'm out of the car in the offseason, I miss it. I'm ready to go back to the track the day after Christmas. I love racing, I love racing against people in this sport. The drivers that we have, the drivers that have been an inspiration to people like me to keep going, and I would like to do it for a very long time.

I know that there's been a lot of articles in the past several months about the way the sport is now ... kind of cutting careers short and there is a prediction of careers being shorter. When you have the kind of leverage that I've got, you can basically dictate your schedule. I've been careful about making sure it doesn't get to where it isn't any fun anymore. So I feel like I can do it for a long time.